Wuerffel Trophy Watch List Is a Start for Zach Durfee

Durfee appeared in six UW games and started three of them last season, showing flashes of the football gifts he's been given before being shut down by double turf toe and requiring surgery.

He's been fully cleared to return and been at practice this week looking to reclaim one of the Huskies' No. 1 edge rusher positions.

A week ago, Durfee pronounced himself ready to play again and told how he made a solid connection with new defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, the former Purdue coach, and appreciates his honesty.

"He calls out someone in front of the whole room and we know who it is," Durfee said. "it's a place of love. It's a place where we want to be the best we can be. He's super hungry, too. "

A Sioux Falls transfer, the edge rusher is overdue to play an entire season. He sat out the 2023 regular-season schedule for the Huskies because of an NCAA transfer rule, since overturned. He really played significant minutes in just three outings last fall.

He's been motivated to get back in the mix after watching his fellow edge rushers, each with a playing somewhere, perform at a high level in April.

"It was really cool when I was watching spring practice," Durfee said. "It was so motivating for me to see all of the guys in the room playing like super well. That was really motivating for me, like I've got to get back and get on my A game."

Meantime, that hasn't stopped the playmaker from volunteering in the offseason and sharing himself with children's hospitals and trying to make an impact away from football.

The Wuerffel Trophy winner will be announced on the ESPN college football awards show on Dec. 12 and a trophy presentation will be made on Jan. 31 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

Nick Dawkins, a Penn State offensive lineman, was the 2024 Wuerffel Trophy recipient. He was a starter last November when the Nittany Lions beat the UW 35-6 in State College, Pennsylvania, with Durfee unable to play.

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